Two characters give each other a hug. Everything looks nice and friendly (or loving), but then Alice drops the act and allows her real feelings to show through in their expression, behind Bob's back where he can't see. But the audience can see, and so this allows them to be clued in on two things:

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Huey from Baccano! shows his true colours when hugging his young daughter Chane, who just offered to become voiceless so she could keep his secrets. Not that we didn't know Huey was a bad customer anyway...

In the second episode of Darker Than Black, Hei has this when comforting Chiaki in his Li persona. While he speaks in a loving, idealistic manner, the audience can see the actual expression on his face is cold, as are his eyes. This is close to being an example of the "evil" version, as Hei is on assignment to kill Chiaki, but it's never clear whether he planned to go through with it (which is moot, as she was a Doll programed with the memories of the real Chiaki to trap him) or would have looked for a way to save her.

Oliver & Company: Jenny tells Georgette that Oliver has been kidnapped, and Georgette lays her head on Jenny's shoulder, seemingly sobbing. As Jenny consoles her, we see that Georgette is actually snickering, because she was the one who helped with the "kidnapping". It turns into an Oh, Crap! face when Jenny says they're going to go get him back.

A less dramatic, subtler example with the Cooldown Hug Nikolai gives Kirill. It's not as if Nikolai's oblivious to his feelings, though.

A better example might be the hug in the basement, after Nikolai has been offered his stars. It lingers just long enough for Kirill to start looking like he half-ways expects a kiss; then Nikolai pats his cheek and moves away.

North by Northwest: Roger is on the lam, meets Eve on a train, they get on very well... as he holds her we see her cool, calculating face, having slipped a note to his pursuers in the next compartment.

In Sleeping with the Enemy, Laura doesn't want to have sex with her abusive husband. But to avoid further violence, she pretends to be aroused as he makes advances to her, right before we see her upset face over his shoulder.

A humorous one in Charade, when Audrey Hepburn has just learned that Cary Grant has been lying to her about who he is and why he's hanging out with her. Not knowing she knows, he gives her what's intended as a comforting hug while telling her he's moved into the room adjoining hers. The way her eyes suddenly get very wide is hilarious.

In The Godfather Part II, during Mother Corleone's funeral, Michael and Fredo reconcile with a hug. As Mike embraces him, he makes a signal to his hitman Al to kill him.

At the very end of Oldboy (2003), when Dae-Su hugs Mi-Do, we see his smile slowly change into a mask of grief. It is up to the viewer what this means, though it seems to imply that the hypnosis may not have worked.

In the 2001 TV movie version of Othello, Christopher Eccleston's character gets a really good one while hugging (John) Othello after the latter's promotion. That look makes it clear to anyone in the audience who wasn't already aware of the plot that Ben Jago is NOT the man Othello should be depending on.

The Usual Suspects. Dean Keaton hugs his lawyer girlfriend after she encourages him to not be discouraged by the police harassment from his attempt to reform. As he does so, he eyes the fellow cons he'd been thrown into the lockup with, who are standing across the road watching them. This presages Keaton's decision to go back to a life of crime.

In the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Lolita, Humbert eyes a bedside picture of Charlotte's underage daughter while smooching Charlotte on their marriage bed. Charlotte chooses that moment to reveal her plan to send Lolita away to a strict boarding school, so she doesn't see Humbert's shocked (and then contemplative) expression either.

In Juice, during Raheem's funeral, Bishop talks to his dead friend's mother and lets her cry on his shoulders. While this is happening, Bishop gives a cold and arrogant stare to Q, because Q knows that Bishop killed Raheem and threatened to kill him and his friends if he told. Q stares back, realizing what a monster Bishop is.

In the Harry Potter series, Dudley Dursley pretends to be very upset, wailing and carrying on. Then, when hugged by Petunia and slipped a few pounds by Uncle Vernon, Dudley nastily grins at Harry while his parents' backs are turned.

Live-Action TV

This trope gets significant usage on Heroes. HRG (Noah Bennet) has done it to members of his family more than once, and it happens with the Petrellis fairly often too. Even Sylar has done it at least once.

On V (2009): Ryan is seen over his fiance's shoulder as he hugs her. The audience knows he's troubled because Valerie just found out she's pregnant, and Ryan is a Visitor, but she doesn't know that. To complicate matters, he genuinely loves her.

Done in an episode where Clark hugs Lana. A close-up of his face reveals a distortion and an evil smile revealing him as Bizarro to the audience.

A lighthearted example in "Noir". Jimmy and Chloe confronts someone who shoves Chloe into the stairwell. After Clark catches her and retreats to the shadows, Jimmy rushes in, worried and not understanding what happened, but Chloe plants a "Shut Up" Kiss on him. When they hug, Chloe faces Clark and silently says something that looks suspiciously like "I love you too".

Used in Xena: Warrior Princess, in the episode "The Rheingold". Xena "confesses" her love for Odin while weeping, he embraces her, and we see her shifty eyes and suspiciously calm expression as she continues to make weepy sounds.

In Friends, Rachel stops short of confessing her feelings to Ross when she sees him and Emily (his bride-to-be) kissing and instead wishes him a great marriage with a "congratulations" hug, while looking utterly miserable when she hugs him.

Additionally, in the first season episode "The One With the Dozen Lasagnes," Rachel breaks it off with the Romantic False Lead, Paolo, after discovering he hit on Phoebe. When Ross swoops in to reassure (and hopefully woo) her, Rachel disgustedly swears off all men romantically before gratefully hugging Ross for his support. His face drops from friendly acceptance prior to hug to an expression akin to disheartened defeat.

Lost: Sun tells Jin, "I have never been with another man," and hugs him. As soon as she's in the hug, her face changes, and we later learn that this was a lie.

"Becoming, Part 2". Buffy realises that Angel has got his soul back and hugs him. As Buffy does so her eyes widen in horror because she can see a vortex to the hell dimension opening behind Angel; she tells Angel to close his eyes and does what she must.

Being Human had Owen hugging his fiancee, trying to reassure her that their house isn't haunted. He is, of course, staring straight at Annie, complete with Psychotic Smirk, while he tells the woman he's hugging he "can't see anything".

The U.S. remake has Danny hugging his girlfriend after convincing her that his ex-fiancee Sally's death was accidental. In actuality, Danny killed her intentionally.

One Life to Live: After Luna expresses anxiety about her impending wedding (due to being widowed very soon into her first marriage), her fiance Max reassures her. She laughs, insists that she's fine, and they hug. Of course, we see her secretly upset face over his shoulder. . .but the trope is then played twice when we see HIS equally worried face. As it turns out, he is fully aware that she's only pretending to be okay.

The CBBC Sketch show "Sorry, I've got no head" had a skit about EastEnders employing this. In the midst of a Revealing Hug the famous theme starts playing when another character interrupts the two hugging, pointing out this trope and that one of them was lying to the other. The woman of the duo runs off crying, and the man, feeling sad, asks for a hug. Cue the same music and the same look.

Glee had Will's wife Terri discover that she wasn't actually pregnant with their longed-for baby. She plans to break the news to Will gently, but after he starts by giving a little speech about how important family is to him and how much he's looking forward to being a father, she lies and tells him that she's discovered she's having a boy. Her expression of utter panic over his shoulder as he hugs her in joy is tragically hilarious.

Occurs in the second season of the HBO series Rome. Atia is reconciled with her son Octavian, but as they embrace, you see a look on Atea's face that implies she's just doing it for the power. Additionally, when Octavian and Mark Antony embrace when they join forces. The looks on both their faces make it clear that neither of them would be doing this if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

And again with Atia and Cleopatra.

Atia: Die screaming, you pig-spawned trollop.

There are plenty of lesser examples, but it's notable that most of the time both sides are completely aware of the other's intentions.

In The Sopranos, Chris and Tony -whose relation is falling over- seem to cordially embrace during a baptism, but without any words their chilling stares powerfully convey a primal fear and a bitter disappointment.

On Revenge, this is practically Emily Thorne's Signature Move. Her hated enemy Victoria Grayson also sometimes gets into the act.

When Dean finds Cas in Purgatory, he gives him an overjoyed and relieved hug. Dean's close to Manly Tears— but he's got his face tucked into Cas' neck to the point where he can't see the latter's clenched fist and shattered expression—Cas can't bring himself to hug Dean back because Leviathans are after him, and he has to leave Dean to keep him safe.

A subtle version when Dean hugs Sam at the start of Season 6, Sam just smiles patiently as if it's no big deal, despite not having met his brother for over a year. The difference is only apparent when Sam gets his soul back half-way through the season and they hug a second time.

Two in "First of His Name" First, Lysa graciously welcomes her niece, Sansa, to her castle but Lysa's smile slides right off her face when she hugs Sansa. Then, Littlefinger lets his loving mask toward Lysa slip into a very telling look of disgust when she starts cuddling him after revealing that she's brought a septon to wed them immediately.

And a few episodes later after delivering the tearful story of her aunt's "suicide" (actually she was murdered by Littlefinger in front of Sansa's eyes) Sansa is hugged by Anya Waynwood and levels a perfectly sober and Meaningful Look at Littlefinger behind Anya's back. This seals her change from The Ingenue of the first three seasons to an active player in the game of thrones.

In a Deleted Scene, Queen Margaery Tyrell stares thoughtfully at King Renly's armour while comforting her brother Loras after Renly's assassination. Loras is mourning the death of a lover; the more pragmatic Margaery (who served as The Beard to her husband) is contemplating what their next step to the Iron Throne might be after this setback.

Babylon 5: In an episode where a Beautiful Slave Girl is trying to get close to Londo to gain access to some Blackmail files at the behest of her master, they embrace at one point and the facade she's put on for his benefit slips for a moment.

In "Dark Water", which provides the page quote, the Doctor and Clara are both doing this: they're both lying about having a happier life, so the other won't leave their happy life for the sake of their friendship.

The page quote is repeated when the Doctor later hugs Clara again in "The Magician's Apprentice", though the context is different.

In later seasons of 'Allo 'Allo!, a Running Gag was that Michelle of the Resistance - apparently the only woman in the town not attracted to Kavorka Man Rene — would pretend she was in order to get him on board with her plans. During their embraces, the camera would close in on her rolling her eyes and looking exasperated.

In the season six finale of Criminal Minds, 'Lauren', The team are informed of Emily Prentiss' apparent death at the hands of Ian Doyle (In reality a cover up by J.J and Hotch to protect her). J.J and Reid hug to comfort one another and whereas only grief can be seen on Reid's face, J.J looks at Hotch over his shoulder with an expression showing that there is more going on.

On The Big Bang Theory, Raj is threatened with being financially cut off by his parents because he's spending excessive amounts of money on the girl he's dating. He tells her that he chose love over money (and that they would have to return the more expensive gifts he bought her), leading to a hug with her looking disappointed. The next scene shows him depressed over their breakup.

Pro Wrestling

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chyna (defending champion) vs. Kurt Angle for the Intercontinental Championship in 2000. Angle knocked Chyna down with the belt, Eddie suplexed Angle out of the ring, and then went to check on Chyna to make sure she was alright. In the process, he accidentally pinned her, winning the Intercontinental Championship from her. After the match, he explained himself and was as shocked as she was. Chyna apparently forgave him, and they hugged... except the camera revealed an excellent smirk on Eddie's face behind Chyna's back. Seems he wasn't so upset about winning the championship after all.

Layla gave one to Kaitlyn before the latter's Divas Championship opportunity against AJ Lee in 2013. She praised Kaitlyn as a deserving champion and hugged her, while also showing a Traitor Shot, suggesting that Layla had villainous plans against Kaitlyn. Sure enough, Layla did betray Kaitlyn during the match and cost her the title against AJ.

Then there was the entire Bully Ray-Brooke Hogan thing during the Aces & Eights storyline, during which Bully was fighting against the Aces & Eights alongside Sting while courting/dating Brooke at the same time — and Brooke's dad, General Manager Hulk Hogan, did not trust Bully at first. Eventually, Bully proposed marriage to Brooke and she said yes…and during their hug, Bully looked at the camera with a blank expression as though he was the Only Sane Man in the ring. Sure enough, he earned Hulk's trust…then turned out to be the Aces' President.

Web Original

Oddly subverted in Ruby Quest. At the end of the first day, Ruby and Tom are united for the first time and give each other a badly needed hug. Then Tom opens his eyes... and, well, he opens his eyes. He has to open them sometime, right?

After reading the story to its very conclusion, and re-reading to this point, there are three probable reasons for this seemingly out-of-place dramatic moment: Perhaps he is feeling the first effects of the arsenic-laden fish. Perhaps he is vaguely aware, despite the amnesia, that he is hugging the person who once killed him. Perhaps he never had amnesia, is acutely aware that she has amnesia, and is biding his time until he gets out of his cell and the Metal Glen, and away from that maniac Red. Admittedly, his later reactions seem genuine enough to preclude that last option, but the penultimate panel remains ambiguous...

The Suspiciously Evil Sloth meme is based on this trope, adding humorous captions to a picture where a man is hugging/holding a sloth, and behind his back, the sloth seems to be making a Psychotic Smirk.

Web Comics

Near the end of Avalon, Ceilidh breaks up with Joe and goes to Phoebe for comfort. Cut to her smiling serenely, probably either out of relief that she wasn't staying in the doomed relationship, or, going by later events, relief that he was out of her way.

When Emily tells Ash in Misfile that she's agreed to go on a date with a guy she's just met, Ash says that she's happy for her. She looks like she's about to break down into tears when they hug because she wishes that she (actually a "he" deep down inside) could be the person Emily's going out with.

Subverted in this strip of Sluggy Freelance. It's not Torg's face that reveals his emotions (we don't even see his face), but rather his inability to return Zoe's hug. The subversion comes in when Zoe notices it (caught up in the moment, she could have easily not realized Torg never hugged her back).

In a possible parody in Homestuck, an extended hug of significant, hidden facial expressions occurs between Vriska and her ancestor Aranea, which starts with Vriska praising Aranea's (by her standards) rambling story, which she seems to takes at face value as she answers with some kind words about her piratical attitude, they give each other a big hug... and, successively, Vriska makes a gagging face for her friend in the background, who answers with a "wanking" hand gesture, they high-five each other, while on the other side of the embrace, Aranea narrows her eyes...

Western Animation

A Lampshade of this occurs in Danny Phantom when Jazz adds an unnecessary commentary as she hugs her "Uncle Vlad". ("Keep hugging, we'll see who hugs last.")

This short animated film Red where Little Red Riding Hood refuses the advances of the wolf (who looks like a slightly feral child wearing a wolf costume) after spilling the cakes she was going to bring to her grandmother. After leaving brokenhearted, Red encounters a unicorn-horned rabbit, which she hugs (not noticing the evil toothed grin it makes before mutating into a bear-sized horned monster that was ready to devour Red before the wolf comes back in time to save the day).

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